US President Donald Trump should pardon Julian Assange, said a UN rights expert, saying the WikiLeaks founder is not “an enemy of the American people”.

Writing an open letter expert Niels Melzer said WikiLeaks “fights secrecy and corruption throughout the world and therefore acts in the public interest both of the American people and humanity as a whole.”

He wrote that by pardoning Assange, Trump would send a clear message of justice, truth and humanity to the American people and to the world.

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“You would rehabilitate a courageous man who has suffered injustice, persecution and humilation for more than a decade, simply for telling the truth,” he added.

49-year-old Assange is currently being held in the top-security Belmarsh jail in London. On January 4, a UK court will hear his extradition request, in a case seen by his supporters as a cause celebre for media freedom.

The Australian publisher faces 18 charges in the United States relating to the 2010 release by WikiLeaks of 500,000 secret files detailing aspects of military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Melzer has previously condemned the conditions at Belmarsh, saying the “progressively severe suffering inflicted” on Assange is tantamount to torture.

In his letter on Tuesday, Melzer wrote: “I visited Mr Assange… with two independent medical doctors, and I can attest to the fact that his health has seriously deteriorated, to the point where his life is now in danger.”

He noted that Assange suffers from a respiratory condition that makes him more vulnerable to COVID-19, which has infected several Belmarsh inmates.

First arrested 10 years ago on December 7, 2010, Assange could be jailed for up to 175 years if convicted.